The book marketing snowball

I once spoke to an author whose first book was about to go to print, and explained how book signings work, why authors do them, the importance of niche marketing, how distribution works, etc., creating a platform etc I spent a lot of time going through all the ins and outs of a book promotion, sure that he was imparting great knowledge. The author paused for a moment and got straight to the point.

“Well that’s great, but how do we get my book to Walmart? They would sell a million copies of my book!”

Unfortunately, most new books from new authors don’t start life on Walmart shelves. Something else has to come first, and that something is customer demand. I explained that marketing a book is like rolling a snowball downhill. When it first starts rolling, it’s a little snowball. As it continues to roll downhill, it gradually gets bigger and bigger. When it reaches the bottom of the hill, it is significantly larger than it was when it started.

When a new and unknown author is published for the first time, his book is a little snowball. It may go unnoticed at first, but with persistent promotion it will continue to grow. It may not grow as fast as the author wants it to, but to maintain sales and exposure, the author and publisher need to keep pushing it downhill. If the author stops promoting his work, what happens? The snowball won’t get any bigger, and neither will book sales.

Many authors want to start at the top of the hill with the big snowball, but they only have a big snowball if they have a big platform from which to launch their book. Is the author famous? Are they well known in your state, region, or even across the country? Do they have many followers in their life or profession? If not, then they are starting with a little snowball.

You may have heard of the book “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson. It’s a book that’s been turned into a movie, and it’s a bestseller. The book was not published until after the author’s death, and was released in Sweden, Larsson’s home country. No one outside of Sweden had heard of Larsson before his book was published, but he won an award and was well received in his home country. A publisher in Britain took a chance on the book and translated it into English, renaming it from the original title, “Men Who Hate Women” to “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” The book did not sell.

The British publisher resorted to giving away copies; leaving them in public places like bus stops where people would find and read them. Like a snowball, word of mouth grew until book sales increased and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” became a hit. Eight years after its publication, the book is now a Hollywood movie.

That’s an extreme example of a small snowball rolling down a hill and becoming something very big. Not all authors will have this kind of success, but the journey will almost always start with a little snowball. If you keep pressing it, it will turn into something bigger. You just have to keep pushing.

You don’t have to resort to leaving your book at bus stops to gain traction with your book.